Audit Committee Update – Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council

Audit year: 2017

Date issued: December 2017

Document reference: APS122017

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Contents

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Summary report

About this document 4

Financial audit update 4

Performance audit update 6

Update on national value-for-money studies work and reports 10

Audit committee update

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About this document

1 This document provides the Audit Committee of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council (the Council) with an update on current and

planned Wales Audit Office work. It covers financial and performance audit work together with information on the Auditor General’s

programme of national value-for-money examinations.

Financial audit update

2 Exhibit 1 provides members of the Audit Committee with a brief overview of progress against the planned key outputs and milestones from

financial audit outputs and milestones, as set out in the draft outline.

Exhibit 1: delivering the 2016-17 financial audit work

Planned output Scope Current status

Annual Audit Plan Plan of financial audit work for 2016-17. Audit Committee March 2017

Financial Statements 2016-17 Audit of the Council’s 2016-17 financial

statements.

Opinion issued 26 July 2017

Whole of Government Accounts 2016-17 Audit of the Councils 2016-17 whole of

government accounts

Opinion issued 27 September

Certification of Grants 2016-17 Certification of grants and returns 2016-17 Planned for December 2017

Annual Audit Letter Report summarising our 2016-17 financial audit

work.

Planned for December 2017

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3 The Council is participating in the second year of the ‘outcomes pilot’ on Welsh Government grants for the 2016-17 financial year. The

‘outcomes pilot’ aims to test the feasibility of a new outcomes approach developed in 2015-16 and takes into account of how both the

Welsh Government and the Auditor General wish to improve the value and impact of certification work. The pilot’s aim is to move auditors’

efforts away from transaction testing and towards consideration of the activities to be delivered by the funding. Fieldwork is underway and

we are due to report our finding to Welsh Government in December 2017 in line with their deadline.

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Performance audit update

4 Exhibit 2 summarises the performance audit work recently completed or underway within the Council – and national reports relevant to the

Council.

Exhibit 2: performance audit work programme

Topic Scope Status Timescale

Performance audit work

Governance Review With the introduction of CIPFA’s revised

framework for ‘Delivering good

governance in local government’, and

requirement for councils to adopt the

sustainable development principle from

April 2016, this review will provide the

Council with a baseline from which to

consider opportunities to strengthen

governance.

Complete.

Final report published 30th August

2017

Audit Committee 13th

December 2017

Year one commentary on WFG/Baseline

Gather evidence on how the 44 bodies are beginning to respond to the requirements of the WFG Act and identify examples of notable emerging practice.

Complete.

There is no local report. The baseline

assessment will inform a commentary

to be published summer 2018.

November 2017

Overview and Scrutiny – Fit for the Future?

This review will examine the impact of the WFG Act on the work of scrutiny committees including PSB scrutiny, facilitating improvement and sharing of good practice.

Planning.

Fieldwork scheduled for

January/February 2018

March 2018

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Topic Scope Status Timescale

Service User Review A user focussed review. A specific area to be agreed with the Council.

Planning - draft project brief issued 3rd

October

March/April 2018

Aligning Levers of change workshops

The purpose of this review is to support the development of local action that will promote positive practice and help identify barriers to be addressed.

Complete.

Additional work n

November 2017

Digital Risk Diagnostic internal document no assurance, but areas for potential scrutiny for future assessment inform plans for next year

Planning – to be confirmed March/April 2018

IAL1 Review Council arrangements to secure continuous improvement, its progress against previous proposals for improvement and the setting of improvement objectives for the year

Complete. 27th April 2017

IAL2 Review of the Council’s published plans for delivering on improvement objectives

Complete. 24th November 2017

Annual Improvement Report (AIR)

Annual report summarising the audit work undertaken in the last year which also includes a summary of the key findings from reports issued by ‘relevant regulators’

Planning – not yet started May 2018

Local government studies

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Topic Scope Status Timescale

Addressing dependency and demand for public services through the development of effective prevention approaches

We will review how adaptations prevent

access to and speed up discharge from

hospitals. The work will look at how

health use adaptions to underpin their

activity as well as how efficient and

effective organisations are at procuring

and delivering adaptions work.

NPTCBC has not been selected to

take part in the detailed fieldwork of

this study.

January 2018

Strategic commissioning of learning disability services by local authorities

The review will focus on learning

disability schemes as a tracer in local

authorities and will assess how

effectively strategic commissioning is

being delivered. Fieldwork will focus on

both the corporate approach to strategic

commissioning but also use findings from

the tracer area to understand how

effective operational arrangements are.

We are working with CSSIW and SSIA

and will be building on recent national

inspection and support work on learning

disabilities.

NPTCBC has not been selected to

take part in the detailed fieldwork

December 2017

Managing Demand -

(Improving joint work on

housing and health)

The study will focus on a specific tracer

area of homelessness in local authorities

using the recent prevention duties placed

NPTCBC has not been selected to

take part in the detailed fieldwork

December 2017

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Topic Scope Status Timescale

on local authorities to judge how demand

for services is managed.

Integrated Care Fund A review of the integrated care fund at both a local and national level

Early stages of scoping TBD

Using data effectively Review will primarily focus on the role of local authorities in how effective they are at managing and using data to support decision making and the use of resources

Project brief issued June 2017 August 2018

How well do public bodies provide services to rural communities

This review will assess how well public bodies are working together to assess needs, identify priorities, deliver and maintain the provision of key operational services to meet the needs of people in rural communities.

Project brief issued June 2017.

NPTCBC has been selected as a

fieldwork site.

August 2018

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Update on national value-for-money studies work and reports

7 Exhibit 3 provides Audit Committee members with information on our national value for-money studies that have relevance to

local authority organisations. Any recommendations arising from our national studies (or related reports by the National Assembly’s

Public Accounts Committee) that are relevant to local authorities will be reported as appropriate to the Audit Committee.

Exhibit 3: update on local authority-related national value-for-money studies

Local government-related national studies

Public Procurement in Wales Published Oct 2017 Link

Good Governance when determining significant service change

National summary Report

Published Oct 2017 Link

The National Procurement Service Published Oct 2017 Link

Savings Planning in Councils in Wales Published June 2017 Link

21st Century Schools and Education Programme Published May 2017 Link

Source: Wales Audit Office

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